


Creative Writing Exercise

by HikariYumi



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Fanfiction, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Metafiction, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Morgana is a good bro, No Romance, Phantom Thieves find their phandom, Post-Canon, Summer, Thieves Family, at least kinda, lonely Akira, references to (slash) pairings, writing is therapeutic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 08:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18407018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariYumi/pseuds/HikariYumi
Summary: Akira returns to Tokyo during summer break to meet with his friends. It’s an accident that they stumble over the existence of the Phandom and the Fanart and Fanfiction the produce.Especially Akira finds that he really likes fanfictions.





	Creative Writing Exercise

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Stranger than Phandom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14306364) by [FlOrangey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlOrangey/pseuds/FlOrangey), [SeasonalTea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeasonalTea/pseuds/SeasonalTea), [vivvav](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivvav/pseuds/vivvav). 



> Hello there!
> 
> This was planned as a crackfic. A while ago I read a crackfic where the thieves stumbled about fanstuff about them and I thought it was hilarious. But for some reason I’m unable to write something that’s actually funny and always resort to ... well ... angst?
> 
> The nicknames and some concepts are inspired by said fanfic and I’ll try to find it to link it somewhere. (Never done his before... sorry)  
> Let me say the other authors handled this idea way better...^^
> 
> Anyway, I plan to try my hand again at a more funny version where I focus on Akira actually writing fanfiction. Cause I rather like the idea.
> 
> Whatever.  
> This story is written by a betaless german who stills truggles with grammar and spelling. I hope it’s not too distracting.
> 
> PS: I hope no part comes off as if I’m mocking writers who ship the characters in one way or another! I myself am a big multi shipper! If you feel like it might be a problem just tell me!
> 
> Thank you!  
> ~Hikari

Coming back to LeBlanc ironically felt more like coming home than returning to his parents had been. The moment the familiar bell above the door chimed and the smell of curry and coffee surrounded him, Akira's shoulders loosened and his posture slumped into something more comfortable.

Sojiro only did as much as raise an eyebrow at him before motioning him over to the counter. Just like Akira had done it so often that past year, he put his bag down next to a chair, close enough that Morgana could climb his own seat in one swift leap.  
One moment later a steaming plate of Curry was set down along with a cup of mountain blue - Akira smiled.

“You’ll stay over the whole break? I get that you want to hang out with the others, but you won’t get around helping out in the shop.”  
“I wouldn’t think of it.”

The months between the start of Akira's third high school year and the highly anticipated summer break had dragged on endlessly. Even the frequent texting with the other ex-Phantom Thieves only helped marginally.  
In all honesty, Akira had entertained the idea to return to Tokyo over Golden Week, but his parents had put their foot down about that.

“Good. Well, now eat up before it gets cold. It’s late already so I’ll close up in the meantime. Oh, and you’ll see your friends early enough, don’t spend the night texting and get some sleep.”  
“You sound a lot like Morgana sometimes.”

The boy chuckled at the indignation from Sojiro, as well as the annoyed noise that his cat-shaped friend let out.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this comparison” the man sighed and threw a quick glance to Morgana, who had already turned back to the plate of tuna Sojiro had prepared for him.

For once, the TV in the corner was silent, only the quiet humming of the fridge cut through the nightly heat.

“Well then, I’ll get going. I’ve put new sheets on the bed for you but everything else should be as you’ve left it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Akira nodded and wished the man, who had more or less adopted him for a year, a good night. To his credit, Sojiro hadn’t asked why Akira had declined the offer to use the guest room in his house for the duration of his trip, but Futaba hadn’t shared that curtesy. The last three weeks she’d blown up his phone at the most inconvenient times about it and tried everything in the book to convince him to change his mind.

Even though she understood Akiras desire to make himself feel as if nothing had changed since April, it didn’t mean Futaba stopped complaining about his refusal to live in Sojiro’s house with her.  
At some point she had tried to pull the others on her side, but Haru had gently reminded her that she would see Akira everyday - regardless of his sleeping situation. Futaba had eventually given up and the boy had thoroughly thanked his former teammate for her help.

Now though that Akira laid down in his old bed, Morgana curled up beside him, the familiarity he’d found so comforting at first turned into something more unsettling. He couldn’t put his finger on what exactly made him feel so off, the weird mixture of nostalgia for something that would never happen again and longing for a time when this was the place he’d returned to in the evening. Akiras throat was as tight as it had been the very first night back in his hometown, hopefully that feeling would pass after he could see his friends again tomorrow.  
He worried about it anyway.

“Stop thinking so loud and sleep. Seriously.”  
Morgana sounded only vaguely irritated and even in the darkness Akira could see the bright colour of his friends’ eyes. After a moment of silence Morgana yawned and climbed onto his chest to assumingly fall back asleep.  
It helped, the warm cat-shaped weight usually managed to calm his thoughts and let the boy find rest. They didn’t do it often though, and they had never talked about it.

~

“It’s so good to have you back, man! Things just aren’t the same without you around!”  
Hearing Ryuji’s words made Akira even happier than reading them on his phone, maybe the arm that was slung around his shoulders did it’s part as well.

Ann agreed with their friend’s sentiment and pulled Akira into a quick hug - something which proved a bit awkward with Ryujis arm in the way, but they managed. Makoto shook her head at their antics and drew him into a little conversation instead.  
She and Haru had already started college, both of them had managed their entry exams well enough despite the whole Phantom Thieves business and had begun adjusting to their new schedules by now. Unsurprisingly Makoto had, even without a letter of recommendation from the principal, gotten accepted by all of the universities she’d applied for and had eventually decided to stay in Tokyo. 

Since neither of the two girls was really certain about their future they had bonded over their new experiences together. They had even moved in together in May.  
Their shared flat was close to their Campi, and travelling back to Shibuya wasn’t too much of a hassle. Makoto had thought about pursuing a career in the police, but had eventually decided to study law for now. Not only Sae had been startled by this abrupt change of intent, until the younger Nijima explained that she would also take courses in political subjects on the side.  
No one had a doubt that Makoto would make a great, yet creepy politician. 

One night the girl had been on the phone with Akira as a way to pass time on the commute back home. For once she didn’t need to work on some essay or project and had actually some occasion to talk to him for a bit longer. Makoto had confided in him, just like she had back in the student council room, that she still dreamed about joining the police force. She had planned to wait until after the first year was over to re-evaluate how she still felt about said dream. Maybe Makoto would’ve found her true passion in law or politics by then, she didn’t want to keep herself from trying things out anymore.  
Akira had smiled and listened, certain that his friend would find her place in life, she was smart and determined to do good. There was no doubt about it at all.

Haru on the other hand still had her father’s company to worry about and consequently decided to gain some knowledge by studying economics. In the meantime she was supported by a bunch of more experienced people, all workers of the company she had picked for the job herself.  
Akira knew she still intended to open a café at some point, so she wasn’t only picking her study out of obligation. Following Makoto’s example of engaging in minor studies, Haru had also expressed interest in the arts department. 

Yusuke has been positively delighted upon hearing that, just until Haru corrected his assumption of her picking up painting due to being exposed to his inspiration.  
Literature, and not even the classics - Ann has expressed her surprise about that in their group chat. After all Haru seemed like a pretty traditional girl - at least when she wasn’t swinging her axe around, but that was something that rarely ever happened anymore nowadays.  
Akira had asked her why she didn’t pursue her interest in gardening, but Haru had explained that she rather wouldn’t turn her hobby into a job. The boy couldn’t argue with that.

Haru had greeted him with a kind smile and a nod before slinking into the booth beside Yusuke. The artist had been selected to be part of an upcoming exposition, finally able to draw again without constantly fighting against his slump. Akira couldn’t wait to see the pieces in reality, undoubtedly the photos he had been sent couldn’t do it justice. In his experience, Yusukes paintings needed to be seen in their whole glory, the size and and motives relentlessly pulling you in when up close.  
All in all Akira was really glad that said exposition was scheduled during summer break, he wasn’t sure how to explain a short trip to Tokyo just to see some paintings.

“I’m NOT a cat! God damn, I haven’t missed YOU at all, Ryuji!”

Akira pulled his eyes away from Futaba who had her laptop out but still managed to throw a few comments into the conversation Yusuke and Haru seemed to engage in.

“Hah, as if I would’ve missed you, stupid cat!”

Sojiro let our a concerned huff from his place behind the counter, being despite pretending not to eavesdrop very much attentive. It was easy to forget that the man couldn’t understand Morgana and had never really gotten used to the groups dynamic. He’d witnessed the bickering when they hung out in LeBlanc, but a lot of their relationship had been hidden from him along with the Phantom Thieves business.

“Oh come on now, play nice. We all know that you two are both big softies who like each other.”

Ann rolled her eyes and took a sip from her soda. In the past months the group chat had joked about the animosity Morgana and Ryuji exhibited - something that had interestingly died down considerably after the whole Haru incident. The boys still pretended that they couldn’t stand each other, but in reality Ryuji had gone so far as research some fun places where they could bring their cat-shaped friend along without trouble, this summer.  
Morgana had been amazingly flustered when Akira told him.

“Softie? Lady Ann, how can you say something like this?”

Apparently Morgana’s upset sounded a lot like hissing, since Sojiro made a few steps in their direction, scowl etched on his face.

By the time Akira had assured his former caretaker that there was indeed nothing to worry about - an assessment Sojiro obviously wasn’t to trusting of - his friends had calmed down again. Actually, they had perched around Futaba and her laptop.

“What’s going on?”

Yusuke raised his hand and answered with a weird expression on his face: “Haru told us about some pieces of creative writing on the internet.”  
“I didn’t know you guys weren’t aware that there are Fanfiction about you! I would’ve shown you way earlier!”

Futaba seemed oddly excited about the prospect and motioned harshly for him to come over as well.

“Wait, let me pull up some Fanart instead, there’s no way we can all read like this.”

Akira wondered if he should be concerned that Futaba had said Fanart bookmarked in her browser. Naturally, Yusuke was excited and Akira understood why once he realised that it was indeed the Phantom Thieves “fans” were writing and drawing online.

“When did that start? I never realised things like that existed.” Ann shuffled a bit closer to the screen when the first picture was opened. It showed Akira himself, or more precisely, Joker. With his back turned to the viewer the biggest contrast in the black and white painting, was the edge of his mask. 

“That’s one of my favourites! She drew these kinds of pictures for all of us, each with it’s own colour scheme!”

Futaba clicked on the username under the picture and pulled up another painting. This time it was Oracle, looking quite mesmerising in the eerie green colours. It was as if the creator had studied their costumes and based the picture around them off of them.  
The part of Akira that wasn’t flustered was quite impressed.

“Hey, Futaba, when did that start?”

Futaba looked up, only to realise that they had pulled their attention from the screen to focus on her.

“Well, the very first pieces came out after Kamoshida, but that was nearly nothing. Madarame and Kaneshiro really started things off. Mostly Fanfiction really, since they didn’t know what we looked like until Shido’s calling card.”

Akira didn’t know much about Fandom, he was aware that Mishima and Futaba both were part of those Fandoms of their favourite shows. The three of them had met in Akihabara one afternoon and while having lunch together the other two had begun connecting over that.

“But give me a second, I can pull up some of the original art.”

Makoto had already pulled out her own phone and typed off the URL, most likely to have a look herself. It was getting pretty cluttered in the booth after all. A quick glance to his friend’s phone screen showed that she had found her own Thief-Character as well.  
She scowled at her mask obscured face and seemed to blush a bit. 

“That people would create something like this. I mean those Phantom Thief things you could buy in stores were pretty weird already, but this is something else entirely”, she murmured.  
“Right?”  
Futaba on the other hand was positively delighted. 

“What is that?”

When Akira turned back to the screen he blinked. This was indeed something different. On this picture was a group of four, wearing some mix of spandex suit and ninja attire. While that in no way reflected the real look of the Phantom Thieves, funnily enough they all wore some coloured neckerchiefs around their upper arms.

“I think that’s not bad an appearance.” Yusuke decided and inspected the picture closer. “Though I’m not sure how Takamaki-san or Futaba could possibly fit their hair under such a mask.”

“Oh my god!”  
Ryuji thrust his phone into their faces, equally shocked and pleased at the version he had found. This piece showed three people this time; one buff and as blond as Ryuji himself, one more slender but definitely fierce and a little boy with impish smile. It looked a bit as if they were siblings, at least the kid and the lithe woman shared some facial features.

“Why is there no picture of me somewhere? Futaba? Please don’t tell me no one likes ME!”

The girl petted Morgana’s head absently and pacified their friend by pulling up a few images that indeed showed the Cat Thief.  
Even though no one except the Metaverse users knew Morgana’s appearance in the real world, some people had made educated guesses. Akira was honestly curious how the public had accepted a cartoonish looking cat, but after what happened in Shibuya nothing was really a surprise anymore. Maybe the collective subconscious remembered what the people had forgotten and that was what led to the uncharacteristic acceptance.

“Hah! I look dashing! But why the hell am I carrying a knife in my mouth? That’s really inconvenient for fighting!”

Makoto glanced over and shrugged: “Maybe they didn’t realise you have thumbs in that form.”  
“Yeah, be glad that they gave you a weapon at all.”

Ryuji had apparently dug out some more Fanart of himself, but seemed quite unhappy that his thug-like appearance led to people portraying him as some kind of brawler. While Skull had indeed been quite a physical fighter, he never looked like a person hoping for trouble in a bar.

“Just take it as a compliment, the people think you don’t need a weapon to be as strong as we are.”  
As usual Haru was the gentle soul who found the right words to turn things into a more positive light.  
Ryuji grumbled but turned his attention back to his phone.

The group spent the next hour on their phones, skipping through hundreds of pages of search results, occasionally sharing especially nice or funny ones among themselves.  
Sojiro brought them some cold drinks every now and then while sneaking a few looks himself. 

The companionable silence was interrupted by sudden, hysterical laughter.  
Morgana perked up from where he sat on Haru’s lap.  
“What is it, Lady Ann?”

“Oh. My. - I can’t - oh my-“  
Ann was wheezing with laughter and her face had turned red from the strain.  
“They gave us nicknames!”

Futaba looked a bit disappointed. “And here I thought you found the ship fanfiction.”  
“Ships? People wrote about Captain Kidd?”  
Ryuji was immediately interested.

“I doubt that those people know the appearance of our Personas, but I too am interested in what you’ve mentioned Futaba.”

Months of experience told Akira that the grin on his adopted sisters face was not necessarily a good sign. As if to prove him right Futaba laced her hands together and put on her best “Sojiro” impression.  
“Let me explain.”

Akira bit back a snort, her father only grumbled good naturedly without glancing up from his crossword puzzle.

“Shipping fanfiction is something where people write about people dating each other. Oh, and they don’t have to actually be a couple in real life, sometimes the shipped people haven’t even met before! It’s amazing what people come up with!”

“That sounds a bit personal, I’m not sure if-“  
“Oh, come on Queen, it’s fun! Wait, I’ll show you something!”

Following that promise the girls sat together, apparently reading through one of those mentioned Fanfiction. Akira himself had meanwhile found a website for Fanfiction where the Phantom Thieves even had their very own category. He hadn’t been aware such places existed until one user of the still active Phan-site had linked to it in the forum.  
Did that mean that Mishima knew about those Fanfiction? Most likely.

“How do the people come up with those nicknames? They seem to be pretty consistent.”  
Akira had flipped though a few stories and had noticed that some parameters rarely differed between them.

“Oh! Good question! I guess someone started using them and most of the Fandom just accepted them as canon. Or fanon, I guess. Stuff like this happens all the time. When someone comes up with a detail that seems plausible people start to adopt it. Same with the names.”  
Futaba grinned at him.

“Maybe we should’ve made our code names public in our calling card as well in that case” Ann mumbled.

“There seems to be a whole wiki about the Phantom Thieves. They documented all our public activities and even wrote down most of the rumours and speculations. I’m impressed.”

Yusuke showed it to Haru who pointed to something on the screen that Akira couldn’t see.  
“Look, they wrote the ‘fanon’ information down as well!”

Five minutes later all of them had started to acquaint themselves with the facts people made up deemed believable. It was kind of funny in Akira's opinion. But to know that so many people were still this invested in the Phantom Thieves was mildly unsettling.

“ _‘Thug’_? Really? Isn’t that what Morgana tried to call me?”  
“Personally, I like _‘Kitsune’_ a lot.”  
Futaba snorted “You’ll be Inari forever, you can’t do anything about that.”

Everyone knew that Yusuke didn’t mind that nickname either, fortunately he was pretty laid back about those things.

“Hey hey! What’s my nick name? It better be something AWESOME!”

Morgana had put the front paws onto the laptop, apparently he had decided he needed to have a better view than Haru’s phone could offer.  
Futaba opened up the wiki herself to let their friend have a look.

“ _’Nekochibi’_?? What? And why is there another name? _‘Kuro-chan’_? What is it with those minimisations? That’s just degrading!”

“Now now” Ann tried to calm their cat-shaped friend, “I think that just means they think you’re cute.”  
“Don’t wanna be ‘cute’. Why didn’t they think of something more cool? Like _‘KaitoCat’_?”

“‘Cause Akira’s named _‘Kaito’_ already.”  
Ryuji grinned, seemingly amused by the outrage now that he himself wasn’t the only one who was unenthusted by his nickname.  
“What? Why did Joker get a good name?”

Haru smiled before she admitted that she also rather liked her name, _‘Kenshi’_ was not the most fitting one when it came to her fighting style but she didn’t mind that detail. Less surprising was that Futaba alias _‘Alienqueen’_ was not disappointed the slightest.  
“Hah! Looks like I’m the queen now, Makoto!”

“Wait, do they think I’m a boy?”  
Akira flipped to the fanon article about Makoto, named either _‘Metal Biker’_ or _‘Metaru Baika’_ depending on the preferred spelling. And indeed, there were some inconsistencies with the pronouns. But she wasn’t the only one, _Kenshi_ was wildly speculated to be a young man with only a more European taste of fashion. 

Ann sighed and put her phone down.  
“I guess it was hard to see your bodies beneath your outfits. Believe me, I wish it would be the same with mine. Of course they would call me _‘Catgirl’_. I still hate the outfit.”  
Morgana’s silent protest was collectively ignored.

“But if people think _Kenshi_ is a man, why are they so adamant that he is in a relationship with _Kaito_?”

Yusuke scrunched up his face in confusion before reading on. No one really answered, Haru blushed and Futaba cackled.  
The Fandom had some quite elaborate ideas for the Phantom Thieves’ characters as well as background. Some stories which were marked _‘Alternate Universe’_ portrayed them as superheroes with supernatural powers where - of course - Futaba was of extraterrestrial origin.

“Wait, this listing here says that _Metal Biker/Kaito_ is the most popular ship! That’s so rad! The prez and Akira!”  
Ryuji had obviously found his good mood again and was happily diving into the deeper parts of the Fandom.

Akira himself had found a few stories he actually wanted to read later, some where the Phantom Thieves went on adventures together and were a tight knit group of friends. It was oddly endearing and he decided to spend a few nights reading them, whenever he felt lonely at home.

Interestingly enough, people seemed to ship Akira with everyone of the group, excluding Morgana. That might’ve been due to his status as the group’s leader, but he wasn’t sure about that.  
It was a nearly even split between shipping and non-shipping fanfiction. The latter ones were mostly light hearted adventure type stories or musings about their character and background. Akira stayed away from the latter ones, he didn’t feel comfortable reading any more rumours about his past, he’d had enough of that.

 _Thug/Kaito_ and _Kitsune/Alienqueen_ seemed quite popular as well. Futaba pouted when Akira asked the girl about her opinion on the interpretation of her relationship with Yusuke. _Kenshi_ and _Alienqueen_ were mostly sweet little snippets while _‘The Phantom Thieves of Love’_ contained things which Akira felt a bit too young to read.

“Akira! Did you see it? Someone wrote a story only about me! I knew they would see my awesomeness!”

Morgana as well seemed to enjoy what he had found, but the moment Akira stumbled upon the first Fanfiction about _Kaito_ and _Goro Akechi_ , he dropped the phone as if burned.

“Do you need some help?”  
Sojiro raised an eyebrow at his sudden request, but played along without a hitch.  
“Thought you’d already forgotten your promise. Brew up a strong roast for the evening crowd. I take that you’ll go upstairs before the regulars get in?”

Akira nodded, relieved to have something to do to keep his mind off the Detective Prince that the public still held dearly.

~

The Phantom Thieves didn’t return to their Fandom much during the rest of summer break. They made as many plans as they could to spend time with Akira before he had to leave for his hometown again. Luckily, the Tokyo University shared holidays with the schools so Haru and Makoto didn’t get into trouble.  
It was a nice time, visiting the beach they’d been to the year before - now with Haru as well - was great fun.

They didn’t hang out as a group the whole time, Akira went to train with Ryuji again and Haru showed him her new, very own greenhouse. On his trip to the arcade with Makoto, they met Shinya and when Akira went out for a Crêpe with Ann they took their favourite starving artist along.  
Akira caught up with all his confidants as well, leaving his heart a bit lighter, while fuller at the same time.

Eventually the day of Yusuke’s exhibition came and now, without the looming threat of Madarame, all of them were able to really enjoy the art on display.

Time flew by too quickly, faster than Akira even realised it was time for him to return to his parents. The knowledge weighted him down heavily, there was no way his parents would allow him to return to Tokyo during the winter break again. They hadn’t even been too happy with him leaving during summer, after all it was time for third graders to start studying for entry exams.  
If it hadn’t been for Makoto’s insistence on the phone with his mother, that she would help all of them with the applications that she agreed to his trip.

Saying goodbye proved just as painful as the first time around. Futaba clung tightly to his frame, face buried in his chest. She’d confided in him that even though she had started attending school again, she was still scared and overwhelmed every now and then. Despite Akira being gone for a while, apparently he hadn’t lost his status as security item yet. 

When he thought that Sojiro couldn’t hear him, Akira told Futaba to call him if she ever had a panic attack or something. He was certain he would be able to sneak out of his own classed to help her out.

On the train, Akira held on tightly to Morgana’s bag, if it was uncomfortable for him his friend didn’t complain.

~

And just as he had decided on his first day of summer break, Akira started reading Fanfiction.

Whenever he felt lonely, he pulled up one or two of those comforting stories, sometimes with and sometimes without Morgana looking over his shoulder. At times he laughed about the absurdity, on other occasions he was stunned by how on point the portrayals were.  
Akira wasn’t stopped by the ships and eventually had read through all of them without getting too weirded out.

He, of course, had his favourites among the steady growing bunch of written content. One of them, which portrayed the non-phantom thieves side of the group, was funny and quirky and all around so refreshing that Akira thought about inviting the others to the very described activities whenever they met up next.  
Another one was set in a completely alternate reality which in some points got pretty close to the topic of Personas and ended with a fight against a malicious god.  
Morgana explained that the people’s collective subconscious found an outlet to their memories in those fictional stories. Akira decided that that made a lot of sense.

Akira wasn’t sure when it happened, but whenever he found a Fanfiction or piece of art he found especially fitting or reminded him of one of his friends, he sent it over to them share it. None of them had complained about it or even mentioned it afterwards, but they always read them and like that they shared a laugh or a memory.

~

One night Akiras phone beeped, illuminated his bedroom to a text from Haru.

_‘Good evening, I hope you were not sleeping already?’_  
‘I think you’re still keeping an eye on the things people write and draw about us, don’t you?’  
‘Well, I thought I would try it out myself.’  
‘That sounds weird, doesn’t it? It’s just that in my classes there are a few girls that write Fanfiction to improve their skills and I thought it would be an interesting idea.’ 

Akira blinked and rubbed his eyes a bit. He’d been up late a lot recently - despite Morgana’s best efforts - and was now paying for it.

_‘Go for it. If you want to you can tell me it’s name and I’ll avoid reading it.’_

Morgana yawned and stretched next to him.  
“What’s going on? Is it Ryuji?”  
The other boy was the only one who usually texted at night, mostly when he got too caught up in a game to realise how late it already was.  
“No, it’s Haru.”

Akira tipped the phone screen enough that Morgana could read the words on it.

_‘Oh. I don’t mind you reading it. I just wasn’t sure if it would be weird, writing stories about ourselves.’_  
‘But I think I’ll try it out, it does sound fun.’  
‘I just realised, it will need getting used to not call us by our real code names.’ 

The boy hummed thoughtfully. Haru was right, despite many hours in the Fandom Akira still had trouble connecting the nicknames with his friends at times.

_‘Why don’t you use the our code names instead?’_

Morgana and Haru were equally startled by that idea and Akira explained that it was unlikely anyone would call her out on it. The Phantom Thieves’ tales were, after all, mostly based off on speculation. Just because some people had established some common ground didn’t mean it had to be used. That Haru would write from a more insightful position would never be known; whatever she did, no one would be the wiser.

_‘Thank you, Akira. I will keep you updated.’_

And that she did. She wouldn’t have had to, the former Leader spent a good portion of his free time reading by now. Since his move back to his hometown there hadn’t been a lot of activities to do anymore. Meeting with friends or even fishing we’re out of the question, so reading proved a nice distraction.

The day a user named _‘BeautyThief’_ posted a medium length fanfiction about _Noir’s_ and _Mona’s_ adventures deep under the city, Akira was one of the first to read it.

A few stories later, the new nicknames became more popular. Some argued that there was no way someone would call a male cat _‘Morgana’_ or even _‘Mona’_ and that the others’ names sounded stupid, but everyone just continued to do what they felt most happy with.

Others started posting their new pieces using the new names, especially after a quite excessive flood of Fanart, suspiciously familiar in style, dropped to the Phan-site one day.

 _Kaito_ and _Joker_ became Leaders of two different fanons, which interestingly didn’t devide the writers but encouraged them to ship the characters with themselves.  
Ryuji had teased Haru in the group chat about the effect her Fanfiction has had, but oddly enough the others now too developed the habit of checking into the fandom every few days or so.

One morning Ann sent a link into the chat asking what the others thought about that particular story. When Akira read through it on his commute he couldn’t help but grin. The Fanfiction about the mighty boy who, after being rescued by the Phantom Thieves, started a website as a way of support, felt pretty familiar. No one of the group really needed Futaba to figure out that the poster was indeed no one else than Mishima.  
He was obviously more a techy than a writer, but at least Akira had a good time reading the only slightly exaggerated stories that no one could guess were based on reality.

~

“Hey Akira, I just had a great idea!”  
The boy raised his head from his homework to send his friend, who was perched on the windowsill, a questioning glance.

“Why don’t you write about the Phantom Thieves as well? You could write down how all the things really happened! Just like you said, no one would guess a thing! You could ask Boss to send your old notebook, you’ve kept track of everything we did after all!”

Morgana was right. When he had realised a week into his stay, that Sojiro didn’t really intend to read his journal, Akira had started to use it to document everything that felt important. From the people he met to strategies to take down palaces, everything had been written down. If Sojiro hadn’t been aware of the Phantom Thieves’ identities Akira would’ve never left it at LeBlanc before he left.

“I’ll ask the others first.”  
Morgana cheered, most likely excited to get some more representation. The cat thief still wasn’t quite content with his internet characterisation.  
“But I’m not a writer, you know that?”  
“Eh, it’ll be alright. Now go and text the others, I can’t wait to see the Fandom’s reaction to the REAL tale!”

~

In a cruel twist of irony, Akira finished his recollection of the Phantom Thieves’ business on Christmas Eve.  
It had gotten quite long and thanks to Morgana’s persistence he had uploaded the whole story in multiple chapters. Every palace, from the Thieves’ awareness up to the moment the public gained knowledge of the Change of Heart, outlined a chapter. Akira also wrote about the celebration fireworks and the beach, the days on the rooftop garden and at the the friends’ study sessions at the diner. 

Every now and then he had to tweak a few information to obscure their identities, for example Ann’s photo shoots or, of course, Yusuke’s and Haru’s involvement with their targets. It was tricky, but Morgana agreed that it still made a believable, and more importantly, quite honest story.

The readers were astonished about the extent of research and detail of the Fanfic, marvelling at how hard it must’ve been to spin such an extensive story around the sparse known facts. Sometimes they complained about _Joker_ being such a silent protagonist, eventually agreeing that it fit is mysterious character; on other occasions Akira got scolded for his portrayal of Panther as the effortless beauty.  
No one really had any trouble buying the concept of Personas and the Metaverse, though.

The other Thieves read all of the chapters as well, Akira insisted on it. He wasn’t comfortable publishing something so personal about them all without approval first. It didn’t matter if someone would realise the truth behind the words.

There were some things his teammates hadn’t known about him. After meeting Igor and ending up in the Velvet room themselves, they had guessed that this had to be the place Akira went to before entering a palace, but they never knew for sure. He had to answer a lot of questions about the Persona fusions and the former Twin Wardens, but it felt good to finally share those experiences.

All in all, the whole writing process made Akira feel equally nostalgic and happy. It was as if it helped to work through this year of danger and excitement.  
When the last chapter was published Akira felt sated but a bit empty.

Morgana asked if he stopped the story before his imprisonment to protect his identity, but Akira denied it.  
On Christmas Eve the Phantom Thieves’ life’s had ended, even if the journey of his friends and himself went on. It wasn’t Joker who spent the evening of the 24th with Oracle and her father and it weren’t Joker and Skull who hung out in a café on Valentine’s Day.  
Morgana understood and made this special face where everyone could see he was grinning widely.

Akira brushed over his keyboard absently, watching the hit counter on his Fanfiction rise. People commented eagerly on the last chapter, some were praising him, some wondered why the ending felt so sudden, why there wasn’t a happy end.  
One reader speculated if he had hinted a Skull/Joker relationship in the end, but another protested that it was clearly intended as Fox/Ann. 

Akira had done neither of it, but he left the readers interpret his words as they saw it fit. He didn’t correct them when they made false guesses or read too much into details, that wasn’t why he had written the story.

> ‘PhantomTech’ wrote: “I’m glad you already agreed to let me make a movie out of this, ‘cause this is going to be amazing!”  
>  ‘CrossroadsWriter’ replied: “I’m in. Text me.”

“So, what are you gonna do now?” Morgana asked as Akira closed _‘Trickster in the Velvet Room’_ without paying the online exchange any mind.  
Akira leaned back in his chair, eyes wandering over to his phone. He still needed to wish his friends a Merry Christmas, but it was still early.  
He could take his time.

“I’m going to steal back my future.”  
Morgana laughed and so did Akira. He felt good, not perfect, but he was well on his way. It was Christmas, three months from now he would graduate and move back to Tokyo.  
Back home.

_**’Mission start’** _


End file.
